Mumbai: Visual Computing Labs (VCL), a division of Tata Elxsi and a leading animation and visual communications venture / studio announced that it has recently delivered innovative special effects for Videocon’s latest television commercial (TVC) for its new range of washing machines.

 

This advertisement is unique in that it likens clothes as susceptible to germs to the way people fall sick due to viruses. The ad was conceived to communicate the fact that the new Videocon washing machine has the power of Quanta Wash with the edge of UV ray technology that kills such micro germs. This idea is conveyed using various 3D animation characters.

 

The challenge was designing four different characters, with each character representing a person wearing the garment and his / her personal traits and attitudes towards life. These attitudes / mannerisms had to be further infused with vigour and made to ‘come alive’ through the performances of the four characters in the animation. This unique combination is what orchestrated the main message, which has come across dominantly through the advertisement and helped Videocon drive home its point effectively.

 

This TVC has been directed by ace ad film maker Mintoo Singh of Classic Films. At the outset, while the TVC looks uncomplicated to a non-discerning viewer, tremendous effort has gone into making this a visually foolproof commercial and ensuring that the animation aptly fitted into its proper environment and not ending up looking flat and stuck on. To fit the animation seamlessly onto the live action person’s T-shirt and actually model the T-shirt / shirt complete with folds that matched the ones in the live footage was extremely challenging to say the least. 

 

Speaking about the creation of the commercial, Suhael Merchant, animation director, Visual Computing Labs, Tata Elxsi, said, “The use of animation in advertising is fast becoming a potent force for companies to reach out to the target audience. The uniqueness of this ad film was that even though animation was used as the medium to communicate, the characters for the film were absolutely regular animation characters. The integration of the animated characters being used as prints on various people’s t-shirts and the seriousness of the film’s message is what makes this advertisement stand out.”

 

“Over the years, VCL has been instrumental in the creation of groundbreaking TVCs and this Videocon TVC is yet another example of an innovative and effective campaign. Given the fact that Indian animation companies are moving up the value chain, we at VCL all fully geared up to take the Indian animation industry to its next echelon,” added Mr Merchant.

 

Since its inception, VCL has pioneered some of the finest animated and VFX work that has originated from India and garnered significant worldwide recognition. VCL has successfully delivered fully animated TVCs on a habitual basis for both Indian as well as global customers, the latest being the Kelloggs Honey Loops TVC.

 

The Himani TVC for the production house Equinox, also created by VCL, won the FICCI BAF award this year for executing outstanding visual effects in the category “Best VFX in a commercial”. The division, in order to strengthen its foothold in the TVC arena now has a dedicated team to work in tandem with TVC production houses, advertising agencies and end advertisers globally. 

 

VCL has worked for well-known ad agencies and independent ad filmmakers in the past. Its portfolio includes advertisements for Cheetos, Pillsbury, Huggies, Fanta, and MSN Messenger, besides two Coke commercials for overseas audiences. The division has also worked on projects for Walt Disney, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Lions Gate, MGM and Digimation.